After week 15 the numbers look like this…
| 5 year comparison | ||||||||
| WK 15 | 112 GP | YTD | ||||||
| Avg | +/- | GP | Avg | +/- | Avg | +/- | GP | |
| 2005 | 19,065 | 8 | 14,710 | 14,274 | 101 | |||
| 2006 | 15,853 | -16.85% | 12 | 14,821 | 0.75% | 14,721 | 3.13% | 100 |
| 2007 | 14,650 | -7.59% | 6 | 14,907 | 0.58% | 15,143 | 2.87% | 103 |
| 2008 | 18,529 | 26.48% | 6 | 16,357 | 9.73% | 16,991 | 12.20% | 106 |
| 2009 | 19,285 | 4.08% | 6 | 15,189 | -7.14% | 15,189 | -10.60% | 112 |
Here are the attendance comparisons to 2008’s equal number of home games(112):
| MLS Attendance Averages – Equal # of Home Games | |||||||
| 2008 | 2009 | ||||||
| Att | Cap | Att | Att +/- | GP | % of Cap | Cap | |
| Seattle | 0 | 0.00% | 29,715 | NA | 9 | 92.86% | 32,000 |
| Toronto | 20,144 | 91.66% | 20,288 | 0.71% | 10 | 92.31% | 21,978 |
| LA Galaxy | 25,142 | 93.12% | 19,128 | -23.92% | 8 | 70.84% | 27,000 |
| Real Salt Lake | 15,549 | 73.28% | 15,840 | 1.87% | 7 | 68.84% | 19,340 |
| Houston | 16,566 | 73.63% | 15,689 | -5.29% | 8 | 69.73% | 22,500 |
| ChivasUSA | 14,376 | 53.25% | 15,312 | 6.51% | 8 | 56.71% | 27,000 |
| D.C. United | 20,817 | 92.52% | 14,811 | -28.85% | 8 | 65.83% | 22,500 |
| Columbus Crew | 12,268 | 54.39% | 12,868 | 4.89% | 7 | 57.05% | 22,555 |
| Colorado Rapids | 14,150 | 78.24% | 11,940 | -15.62% | 6 | 66.02% | 18,086 |
| San Jose | 15,420 | 73.77% | 11,774 | -23.64% | 7 | 44.93% | 10,300 |
| Chicago | 16,440 | 82.20% | 11,726 | -28.67% | 6 | 58.63% | 20,000 |
| NE Revolution | 10,289 | 45.73% | 11,511 | 11.88% | 5 | 51.16% | 22,500 |
| N.Y./N.J. Red Bulls | 17,679 | 70.18% | 11,385 | -35.60% | 8 | 45.20% | 25,189 |
| KC Wizards | 9,483 | 91.32% | 9,703 | 2.32% | 7 | 93.44% | 10,385 |
| FC Dallas | 13,862 | 67.62% | 8,679 | -37.39% | 8 | 42.33% | 20,500 |
My disclaimer about the capacity calculations
For my calculations, I’ve taken the 4 teams playing in football stadiums, DCU in RFK, Houston in Robertson, New England in Foxboro, and RBNY in the Meadowlands and assigned maximum capacities as follows, DCU-22,500, Houston-22,500, New England-22,500 and RBNY-25189(the posted capacity of Red Bull Arena). I took the 22,500 from an approximate average of the soccer specific stadiums in use. Capacities have also been adjusted for the few games that were moved to larger venues, such as San Jose playing twice in Oakland Alameda Colliseum for 2 of it’s 7 matches in ‘08 and three times in ‘09.
I’m now using 32,000 for Seattle’s capacity. Thier previous announced cap was 27,000. Since they haven’t drawn less than 28,000, I’ve recalculated all of the Sounders’ games to the new number.
Observations
Good crowds attended this week’s six matches. A big week for average attendance. The league averaged just under 19,300. A great week that could have been better(Colorado).
The week began with RBNY visiting BMO Field and its 20,000+ fans. The Rapids hosted FC Dallas before a modest 10,500+. Columbus continues to draw well, with over 15,500 watching a rematch of MLS Cup ‘08. A terrific crowd of over 18,000 came to Rio Tinto to witness the Laker’s victory. Seattle exceeded thier new ‘official capacity’ of 32,000 as 32,526 saw the Rapids try to overtake Seattle in the west. Just under 18,000 showed up in LA to see the Gals end Houston’s 11 game undefeated streak.
Six of last year’s 14 clubs are now ahead of ‘08 attendance, but only one by double digits. However 6 other clubs are each down over 22% from last year. Maybe MLS can catch some spillover joy from the USMNT. Jason Davis put it quite well.
| YTD – 112 Games | ||||
| Average | Median | %<10K | %>20k | |
| 2005 | 14,710 | 12,106 | 30.36% | 16.96% |
| 2006 | 14,821 | 13,064 | 22.32% | 16.96% |
| 2007 | 14,907 | 14,130 | 11.61% | 20.54% |
| 2008 | 16,357 | 15,274 | 11.61% | 25.00% |
| 2009 | 15,189 | 14,377 | 15.18% | 16.96% |
| Week 15 Games | ||
| Toronto | 2 | TFC Connected |
| RBNY | 0 | Red Bulls Reader |
| Colorado | 1 | Undercurrent |
| FC Dallas | 1 | 3rd Degree – Buzz Carrick |
| Columbus | 1 | Columbus Dispatch – Crew XTra |
| RBNY | 0 | Red Bulls Reader |
| Real Salt Lake | 3 | Behind the Shield |
| Toronto | 0 | TFC Connected |
| Seattle | 3 | Seattle Times |
| Colorado | 0 | Undercurrent |
| Los Angeles | 1 | LA – Official Blog |
| Houston | 0 | Soccer y Fútbol – Barnard Fallas |
These young US players were away this week as the USMNT U-20’s prepare for the U-20 World Cup held later this year in Egypt.
Confederations Cup and MLS
As we all know by now, the USMNT played in the Confederations Cup final, extending the US participation in the tourney. The MLS contingent; Bornstein, Kljestan, Wynne, Casey, Donovan and Clark missed matches(MLS or SuperLiga). After a terrible run of games, 3 straight strong performances against world class opponents on foreign soil: Congrats to the USMNT!
Gold Cup and MLS
| Gold Cup Rosters at CONCACAF | ||||
| Players, League Games Missed Due to Gold Cup Group Play | ||||
| Players | Opponent | |||
| 3-Jul | 4-Jul | 11-Jul | ||
| Chicago Fire | Busch, Pause, Segares(CRC) | Colorado | Columbus | |
| Chivas USA | Thomas(JAM), Harmse(CAN) | LA | ||
| Colorado Rapids | Clark, Perkins, Ceus(HAI) Cummings(JAM) |
Chicago | FCD | |
| Columbus Crew | Rogers, Marshall | DCU | Chicago | |
| DC United | Quaranta, Jakovic(CAN) | Columbus | ||
| FC Dallas | Cooper | RBNY | Colorado | |
| Houston Dynamo | Ching, Holden, Hainault(CAN) | KC | Seattle | |
| Kansas City Wizards | Arnaud, Conrad | Houston | NE | |
| Los Angeles Galaxy | Ricketts(JAM) | NE | Chivas USA | |
| New England Revolution | Heaps, Joseph(GRE) | LA | KC | |
| RBNY | Pacheco(SLV), Richards(JAM) | FCD | ||
| Real Salt Lake | Beckerman, Johnson(CAN) Alexandre(HAI) |
SJ | ||
| San Jose Earthquakes | NONE | RSL | TFC | |
| Seattle Sounders FC | Evans, Marshall(JAM) | HOU | ||
| Toronto FC | Cronin, Gerba(CAN) | SJ | ||
If I’ve missed anyone, hopefully our readers will let me know in the comment section.
This list encompasses the MLS matches that coincide with Gold Cup group play which ends on July 12. I will update the list as we go through the knock-out rounds.
Andy Williams declines Jamaican invite. Williams’ wife has been battling a rare form of leukemia, sparking a soccer nation ‘call to arms’ that resulted in heightened awareness of the need for bone marrow donors.
Note that according to the AP, Busch will remain with the Fire unless Robles or Perkins are hurt or injured. This list does not conform exactly to the rosters listed at the CONCACAF site as drops and adds have occurred since they were posted.
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End of Week Thoughts
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Gettin’ Busy
The Fire play their first U.S. Open Cup game Tuesday in Wilmington, NC. Then a July 4 league game in Colorado. If they win in 3rd round Open match, an Open quarterfinal match would be next on July 7. Back to league play with a home game July 11 against Columbus and then a SuperLiga semifinal on July 15th and another league match on July 18th.
The four MLS SuperLiga clubs were not scheduled this week. The semifinals are on July 15 and the final is on August 15. Looking ahead, Chivas USA is scheduled to play on August 15, while Chicago and Kansas City play on August 16. There are no conflicts on July 15.
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Just Some Stuff
Atlanta fans sent a shout-out to the soccer gods as over 51,000 came out for a friendly between Mexico and Venezuela. Perhaps some Mexican club owner will take the Silverbacks off of Arthur Blank’s hands and bring the team out of hiatus.
Suddenly respectable FCD may lose Davies, Lambo, Marosevic, Shea and Anthony Wallace to the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Egypt, Sep 24 – Oct 16, potentially missing 4 league matches.
Don’t be surprised at the number of players being released. July 1st is the deadline for terminating any contracts with guaranteed money. In other words, dump the player now or pay for the rest of the contract.
Opposite ends of youth soccer in the US …while the U.S. Soccer Development Academy Playoffs are underway, sad news comes out of Brad Friedl’s Ohio based academy.
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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Columbus Crew stadium’s capacity is only 20,000. The stage, remember?
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Davidge:
Thanks for reminding me.
I had taken the 22,555 number from the Crew official website(which remains unchanged).
Wilipedia lists the ‘normal’ capacity at 20,555 and a Columbus Dispatch article from Jan of 2008 lists the capacity at around 20,000.
Think I’ll go with the 20,000 number from here on until they exceed that number for a regular season match.
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TFC’s roster may not be pillaged, but they only have 17 players who are actually capable of being put into a game right now. Things will change when Wynne gets back…they’ll have 18. The remaining three on the roster are hurt or ineligible. They also have no Central Midfielder backups.
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Right you are Lars.
Kyle McCarthy reopens the reserve squad issue in this piece.
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I would do a rolling average on Seattle’s max capacity, so 7*28,000 + X*32,000/Total games where X is the number of games with the new 32,000 capacity, or else you’re going to get an incorrect calculation of the percent capacity. So far this season there have been two 32,000 capacity games, opening day and the Colorado game, so capacity would be 28,889 this week. I have no idea what is up with Seattle reporting 500-1000 people higher than capacity though.. Must be stacking them two deep in some areas or something.
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I agree with Yoshou with Seattle’s cap. situation. since they will have listed two “official” capacities, you should compare game attendance with whichever capacity was listed for that game, not a blanket average, which creates a false answer to % of cap.
and from what i heard, the reason the sounders have always been over 100% capacity is because the number listed is for seats in the bowl, not seats in the suites. and since nearly every suite is filled for every game, those people put the attendance over capacity. i could be wrong, but it does make some sense.
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